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Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2005
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Claim CA005.1:

Charles Darwin was himself a racist, referring to native Africans and Australians, for example, as savages.

Source:

Humber, Paul G. 1987. The ascent of racism. Impact 164, http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=268
Weston-Broome, Sharon. 2001. Louisiana House Concurrent Resolution no. 74: Civil Rights: Provides relative to racism and education about racism. HLS 01-2652 ORIGINAL.

Response:

  1. Virtually all Englishmen in Darwin's time viewed blacks as culturally and intellectually inferior to Europeans. Some men of that time (such as Louis Agassiz, a staunch creationist) went so far as to say they were a different species. Charles Darwin was a product of his times and no doubt viewed non-Europeans as inferior in ways, but he was far more liberal than most: He vehemently opposed slavery (Darwin 1913, especially chap. 21), and he contributed to missionary work to better the condition of the native Tierra del Fuegans. He treated people of all races with compassion.

  2. The mention of "favoured races" in the subtitle of Origin of Species merely refers to variations within species which survive to leave more offspring. It does not imply racism.

  3. The views of Darwin, or of any person, are irrelevant to the fact of evolution. Evolution is based on evidence, not on people's opinions.

References:

  1. Darwin, Charles. 1913. Voyage Round the World of H.M.S. Beagle, 11th ed. London, John Murray. http://pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin/texts/beagle_voyage/beagle21.html

Further Reading:

Britian, Troy. n.d. Darwin on race and slavery. http://home.att.net/~troybritain/articles/darwin_on_race.htm
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created 2001-4-29